Interstitial Intelligence: Human-Rodent Sensing, Cognition, and Work in Morogoro, Tanzania
This dissertation is a historically informed ethnography of various human-rodent encounters in zoological research, animal training, and pest management schemes in Morogoro, Tanzania. I focus on the mobile and multiple forms of translocal knowledge production, particularly within the context of scie...
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| Format: | Thesis |
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Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2022
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/141958 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0784-5869 |
| _version_ | 1811088378797490176 |
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| author | Lee, Jia Hui |
| author2 | Helmreich, Stefan |
| author_facet | Helmreich, Stefan Lee, Jia Hui |
| author_sort | Lee, Jia Hui |
| collection | MIT |
| description | This dissertation is a historically informed ethnography of various human-rodent encounters in zoological research, animal training, and pest management schemes in Morogoro, Tanzania. I focus on the mobile and multiple forms of translocal knowledge production, particularly within the context of science and technology in Tanzania, and consider their entanglements with colonial legacies, global inequities, and uncertainty about the future. I investigate how rodent trappers, trainers, and researchers enact an interstitial intelligence through thinking with and athwart rodents. Drawing on both archival and ethnographic research, I argue that human-rodent encounters in Tanzania are nodes for generating critique, theorization, and speculation about thinking as the practice relates to questions of science, technology, and innovation in the global South.
In Part I, I present a history of the development of rodent science in Tanzania that began during the British colonial government of Tanganyika. I show that rodent outbreaks compelled the colonial government to launch several scientific investigations into rodent ecology. These logics persisted into the postcolonial period, during which several European-Tanzanian partnerships were established to study rodents as pests and disease carriers. I combine archival research and oral history interviews to track how these partnerships were crucial to the establishment of the Pest Management Centre at the Sokoine University of Agriculture, led by Tanzanian rodent scientists.
In Part II, I draw on ethnographic fieldwork, including participant observation and interviews, to analyze emergent forms of interspecies and interstitial thinking practiced by those who research, train, and trap rodents. I pay attention to the construction of and code-switching between Linnaean, Kiswahili, and Kiluguru rodent taxonomic systems. I provide a semiotic account of interspecies sensory co-laboring, essential to the social practice of animal training that transforms giant pouched rats into technologies for landmine detection. I then suggest that rodent trainers propose a working theory of rodent minds that contrasts with an important, Tanzanian type of intelligence called “hekima.” The final chapters situate these human-rodent encounters within larger social and political issues in Tanzania. I position rodent traps as innovative designs and examine practices of looking for buried treasure as part of thinking about resource nationalism in Tanzania.
Kiswahili -
Tasnifu hii inachunguza mahusiano kati ya binadamu na panya kwenye miradi ya utafiti wa kizoolojia, mafunzo ya wanyama, na udhibiti wa baa la panya iliyopo Morogoro, Tanzania. Lengo kuu la tasnifu hii ni kujua mchakato wa uzalishaji elimu, hasa kwenye mada za sayansi na teknologia nchini Tanzania, ikiwemo historia ya ukoloni, ukosefu wa usawa duniani, na kiwaa cha muda ujao. Utafiti huu ulitumia mbinu tatu za ukusanyaji data ambazo ni uchunguzi shirikishi, usaili, na utafiti wa nyaraka. Ninachunguza jinsi watafiti, wanategaji panya, na wanafundishaji panya wanavyotoa nadharia na uchambuzi ikilinganishwa na vitendo vya sayansi, teknologia, na uvumbuzi miongoni ya nchi za kusini mwa dunia.
Tasnifu hii ina sehemu mbili. Katika sehemu ya kwanza, ninawasilisha historia ya maendeleo ya utafiti wa panya nchini Tanzania kuanzia kipindi cha ukoloni wa Uingereza. Ninaonyesha jinsi mlipuko wa baa la panya ulivyoilazimu serikali ya kikoloni ya Uingereza kuanzisha uchunguzi wa kisayansi katika ikolojia ya panya. Itikadi hii ya ukoloni iliendelea hata baada ya kipindi cha ukoloni, ambapo miradi mabalimbali ya ushirikiano baina ya Ulaya na Tanzania ilianzishwa kuendeleza uchunguzi wa panya kama wasambazaji magonjwa na wadudu. Ninaunganisha utafiti wa nyaraka binafsi na mahojiano ya mdomo ya historia kufuatilia jinsi ushirikiano huu ulivyokuwa muhimu katika kuchangia uanzishaji wa Kituo cha Kudhibiti Viumbe Hai Waharibifu katika Chuo Kikuu cha Sokoine cha Kilimo, kinachoongozwa na Wanasayansi Watanzania.
Katika sehemu ya pili, ninachunguza vitendo vya kuwaza na kutengeneza nadharia vinavyotendwa na wanaotafiti, kufundisha, na kutega panya. Wanatumia mifumo ya Linnaean, Kiswahili na Kiluguru kutofautisha aina mbalimbali za panya kufuata vigezo vya jamii fulani. Wanapofundisha panya kunusa mabomu chini ya ardhi, wafundishaji wa panya wanabadilishana taarifa na panya kwa msingi wa jinsi panya wanavyofukua ardhi na mienendo mingine. Ninapendekeza kwamba wafundishaji wa panya wanatengeneza nadharia kuelezea akili ya panya ambayo ni tofauti na “hekima.”. Sura za mwisho za tasnifu hii zinajadili mitego ya panya kama ubunifu na ugunduzi. Hatimaye, ninatoa nafasi ya kufikiria kitendo cha kutafuta hazina iliyofichwa kama kipengele cha majadiliano kitaifa kuhusu miliki ya rasilimali ya nchi. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T14:01:17Z |
| format | Thesis |
| id | mit-1721.1/141958 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T14:01:17Z |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| publisher | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1419582022-04-20T03:17:59Z Interstitial Intelligence: Human-Rodent Sensing, Cognition, and Work in Morogoro, Tanzania Lee, Jia Hui Helmreich, Stefan Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Program in Science, Technology and Society This dissertation is a historically informed ethnography of various human-rodent encounters in zoological research, animal training, and pest management schemes in Morogoro, Tanzania. I focus on the mobile and multiple forms of translocal knowledge production, particularly within the context of science and technology in Tanzania, and consider their entanglements with colonial legacies, global inequities, and uncertainty about the future. I investigate how rodent trappers, trainers, and researchers enact an interstitial intelligence through thinking with and athwart rodents. Drawing on both archival and ethnographic research, I argue that human-rodent encounters in Tanzania are nodes for generating critique, theorization, and speculation about thinking as the practice relates to questions of science, technology, and innovation in the global South. In Part I, I present a history of the development of rodent science in Tanzania that began during the British colonial government of Tanganyika. I show that rodent outbreaks compelled the colonial government to launch several scientific investigations into rodent ecology. These logics persisted into the postcolonial period, during which several European-Tanzanian partnerships were established to study rodents as pests and disease carriers. I combine archival research and oral history interviews to track how these partnerships were crucial to the establishment of the Pest Management Centre at the Sokoine University of Agriculture, led by Tanzanian rodent scientists. In Part II, I draw on ethnographic fieldwork, including participant observation and interviews, to analyze emergent forms of interspecies and interstitial thinking practiced by those who research, train, and trap rodents. I pay attention to the construction of and code-switching between Linnaean, Kiswahili, and Kiluguru rodent taxonomic systems. I provide a semiotic account of interspecies sensory co-laboring, essential to the social practice of animal training that transforms giant pouched rats into technologies for landmine detection. I then suggest that rodent trainers propose a working theory of rodent minds that contrasts with an important, Tanzanian type of intelligence called “hekima.” The final chapters situate these human-rodent encounters within larger social and political issues in Tanzania. I position rodent traps as innovative designs and examine practices of looking for buried treasure as part of thinking about resource nationalism in Tanzania. Kiswahili - Tasnifu hii inachunguza mahusiano kati ya binadamu na panya kwenye miradi ya utafiti wa kizoolojia, mafunzo ya wanyama, na udhibiti wa baa la panya iliyopo Morogoro, Tanzania. Lengo kuu la tasnifu hii ni kujua mchakato wa uzalishaji elimu, hasa kwenye mada za sayansi na teknologia nchini Tanzania, ikiwemo historia ya ukoloni, ukosefu wa usawa duniani, na kiwaa cha muda ujao. Utafiti huu ulitumia mbinu tatu za ukusanyaji data ambazo ni uchunguzi shirikishi, usaili, na utafiti wa nyaraka. Ninachunguza jinsi watafiti, wanategaji panya, na wanafundishaji panya wanavyotoa nadharia na uchambuzi ikilinganishwa na vitendo vya sayansi, teknologia, na uvumbuzi miongoni ya nchi za kusini mwa dunia. Tasnifu hii ina sehemu mbili. Katika sehemu ya kwanza, ninawasilisha historia ya maendeleo ya utafiti wa panya nchini Tanzania kuanzia kipindi cha ukoloni wa Uingereza. Ninaonyesha jinsi mlipuko wa baa la panya ulivyoilazimu serikali ya kikoloni ya Uingereza kuanzisha uchunguzi wa kisayansi katika ikolojia ya panya. Itikadi hii ya ukoloni iliendelea hata baada ya kipindi cha ukoloni, ambapo miradi mabalimbali ya ushirikiano baina ya Ulaya na Tanzania ilianzishwa kuendeleza uchunguzi wa panya kama wasambazaji magonjwa na wadudu. Ninaunganisha utafiti wa nyaraka binafsi na mahojiano ya mdomo ya historia kufuatilia jinsi ushirikiano huu ulivyokuwa muhimu katika kuchangia uanzishaji wa Kituo cha Kudhibiti Viumbe Hai Waharibifu katika Chuo Kikuu cha Sokoine cha Kilimo, kinachoongozwa na Wanasayansi Watanzania. Katika sehemu ya pili, ninachunguza vitendo vya kuwaza na kutengeneza nadharia vinavyotendwa na wanaotafiti, kufundisha, na kutega panya. Wanatumia mifumo ya Linnaean, Kiswahili na Kiluguru kutofautisha aina mbalimbali za panya kufuata vigezo vya jamii fulani. Wanapofundisha panya kunusa mabomu chini ya ardhi, wafundishaji wa panya wanabadilishana taarifa na panya kwa msingi wa jinsi panya wanavyofukua ardhi na mienendo mingine. Ninapendekeza kwamba wafundishaji wa panya wanatengeneza nadharia kuelezea akili ya panya ambayo ni tofauti na “hekima.”. Sura za mwisho za tasnifu hii zinajadili mitego ya panya kama ubunifu na ugunduzi. Hatimaye, ninatoa nafasi ya kufikiria kitendo cha kutafuta hazina iliyofichwa kama kipengele cha majadiliano kitaifa kuhusu miliki ya rasilimali ya nchi. Ph.D. 2022-04-19T19:59:57Z 2022-04-19T19:59:57Z 2021-09 2022-02-24T14:01:13.640Z Thesis https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/141958 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0784-5869 In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted Copyright retained by author(s) https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/ application/pdf Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| spellingShingle | Lee, Jia Hui Interstitial Intelligence: Human-Rodent Sensing, Cognition, and Work in Morogoro, Tanzania |
| title | Interstitial Intelligence: Human-Rodent Sensing, Cognition, and Work in Morogoro, Tanzania |
| title_full | Interstitial Intelligence: Human-Rodent Sensing, Cognition, and Work in Morogoro, Tanzania |
| title_fullStr | Interstitial Intelligence: Human-Rodent Sensing, Cognition, and Work in Morogoro, Tanzania |
| title_full_unstemmed | Interstitial Intelligence: Human-Rodent Sensing, Cognition, and Work in Morogoro, Tanzania |
| title_short | Interstitial Intelligence: Human-Rodent Sensing, Cognition, and Work in Morogoro, Tanzania |
| title_sort | interstitial intelligence human rodent sensing cognition and work in morogoro tanzania |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/141958 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0784-5869 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT leejiahui interstitialintelligencehumanrodentsensingcognitionandworkinmorogorotanzania |